Job matching system and method

ABSTRACT

A system for matching employment candidates to employment positions is disclosed. Measures of personality traits and optionally interests are used to match candidates to employment positions. Candidates&#39; traits may be assessed by administering a questionnaire. A similar questionnaire may be provided to suitable employees who are already filling, or have previously filled, employment positions, in order to assess personality traits of suitable employees for each position. Results are preferably received and compared. A list of suitable jobs may then be provided to the candidate. Software and computer systems embodying the method are also disclosed.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a method and system for matchingemployment candidates to employment positions, and more particularly toa job matching system and method that utilizes personality profiles andpossibly interests of candidates to match candidates to jobs.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Locating a suitable candidate for an available employment position istypically a difficult task. The traditional job application processrequires interested candidates to submit a resume in response to a jobavailability advertisement. Such advertisements set out jobrequirements, typically in the form of desired or required job skills.The resumes, in turn, include the educational, employment, skill, andpersonal interests of the candidates.

Too often, however, the qualifications of the candidates presented onthe resumes appear all too similar, making the review and paring ofpotential candidates extremely difficult. Similarly, the resumes areoften distorted or otherwise unreliable. This is particularly acute withentry-level job openings. Nevertheless, resumes of the most promisingcandidates are selected, and these candidates are personallyinterviewed, screened by telephone, or the like. Usually several roundsof personal interviews are used to further weed the selected candidates,until few are left. Sometimes a candidate is hired from these selectedfew, without further interviewing or testing. Others may be subjected toa job aptitude or personality test, and thereafter hired.

Of those that are eventually hired using the conventional hiringprocess, many will not be successful for many reasons. For example, theeventual employees may not fit into the employer's culture, or have thepersonality traits or interests that are desirable for success.

Accordingly, a more effective method of matching job candidates to jobsis desirable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention, to provide an improved jobmatching system, that more quickly and easily identifies suitable jobcandidates, and provides an increased likelihood that matched jobcandidates are suitable for a particular job.

In accordance with the present invention, measures of personality traitsare used to match candidates to employment positions. Candidates' traitsmay be assessed by administering a questionnaire. A similarquestionnaire may be provided to suitable employees who are alreadyfilling, or have previously filled, available employment positions atdifferent companies within different industries, in order to assesspersonality traits of suitable employees for each position. Results arepreferably received and compared. A list of suitable jobs with differentemployers may then be provided to the candidate.

Advantageously, then, candidates may communicate to potential employersat an early stage of the application process that they have apersonality profile suitable to a particular employment position. Inturn, an employer may take comfort that a matched candidate has apersonality profile suitable for an employment position.

Methods in accordance with the present invention may be embodied incomputer software.

Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparentto those of ordinary skill in the art, upon review of the followingdescription of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction withthe accompanying figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In figures which illustrate, by way of example only, preferredembodiments of the invention,

FIG. 1 illustrates a computing system used to implement a job matchingsystem exemplary of an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates the format of a portion of an exemplary databasestored on a computing device of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 illustrates the format of another portion of an exemplarydatabase stored on a computing device of FIG. 1

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of steps performed by an employer, exemplary ofan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of steps performed by an employment candidate,exemplary of an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a flow chart of steps performed by a computing device of FIG.1, exemplary of an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates a computing system 10, used to implement a jobmatching system exemplary of the present invention. Computing system 10includes a computer data network 12, in communication with computingdevice or server 14, and computing devices 16 and 18.

Computer data network 12 may for example, be the public internet; alocal area network; or any other computing network known to those ofordinary skill in the art. Server 14 is preferably a conventionalnetwork capable server, and as such may include a microprocessor;memory; a network interface; a keyboard; and a monitor (all not shown).

Most preferably, server 14 is at the premises of, and controlled byadministrators of the job matching method disclosed herein. Computingdevice 16 is preferably at the premises of, and controlled by apotential employer; while computing device 18 is preferably at thepremises of, and controlled by an employment candidate. For clarity onlyserver 14 and two other network interconnected computing devices 16 and18 are illustrated. Of course, server 14 is preferably in communicationwith numerous other network interconnected computing devices that may becontrolled by various other employers and employment candidates.

The memory of server 14 stores an operating system 20, such as WindowsNT Server, UNIX, or similar network aware operating system. As well,memory of server 14 stores application software 22 that enables server14 to execute steps exemplary of the present invention. Applicationsoftware 22 may also include an internet Web server, such as the ApacheWeb server, or Microsoft Back Office; an interpreter, real-timecompiler, or libraries allowing execution of programs in a knowncomputing language, such as Perl or Visual Basic; a database engine,such as Microsoft SQL Server, or Oracle. Additionally, server 14 storesa database 24 storing job and candidate data, as described below. Aswill be appreciated, memory of server 14 may include any suitablecombination of random access memory; read-only memory; disk storagememory; or the like.

Computing devices 16, and 18 are preferably conventional network aware“client” computers, and as such include a microprocessor; a networkinterface, such as a modem or Ethernet interface; keyboard; display; andmemory storing an operating system such as Windows NT, the MAC OS, Linuxor the like and including network interface software; and preferably ahypertext markup language (“HTML”) capable network browser, such as theNetscape Communicator, Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer browser.Most preferably this browser is further capable of interpreting andexecuting program instructions downloaded from the interconnectednetwork and from server 14, possibly written in the Java or JavaScriptcomputing languages.

An exemplary organization of database 24 is illustrated in FIGS. 2 and3. As illustrated in FIG. 2, database 24 includes an employment positionportion 26, that preferably includes a relational database table made upof records for each of a number of employment positions, that arepreferably available. Each record preferably includes several fields 28storing details about an available job, including such data as employer;job title; contact person; job description; location; and the like, asillustrated in fields 28 a, 28 b, 28 c, 28 d, and 28 e, respectively.Additionally, each record includes a plurality of personality attributefields 30 each containing a range of numerical values assigned to anidentified personality attribute of a desired employee for that job.

As illustrated, example personality attribute fields may includemeasures of a preferred employee's

-   -   a) independence (field 30 a) [low score=diplomatic, high        score=independent];    -   b) competitiveness (field 30 b) [low score=cooperative; high        score=competitive];    -   c) assertiveness (field 30 c) [low score=submissive, high        score=assertive];    -   d) conscientiousness (field 30 d) [lows core=spontaneous, high        score=conscientious];    -   e) convention (field 30 e) [low score=innovative, high        score=convention];    -   f) organization (field 30 f) [low score=reactive; high        score=organized];    -   g) extroversion (field 30 g) [low score=introvert, high        score=extrovert];    -   h) group orientation (field 30 h) [low score=self sufficient,        high score=group oriented];    -   i) outgoingness [low score=reserved, high score=outgoing] (field        30 i);    -   j) stability (field 30 j) [low score=emotional; high        score=stable];    -   k) poise (field 30 k) [low score=restless, high score=poised];    -   l) relaxedness (field 30 ^(l)) [low score=excitable, high        score=relaxed]; and    -   m) social desirability (field 30 m) [low score=frank, high        score=social desirability].

Each field is preferably populated with a range of numerical entries,bounded between two finite values, and derived as described below. Inthe example embodiment, values between 1 and 10 are used. Collectively,the assessment of these attributes provide an aggregate personalityprofile for any particular job. Most preferably, identical personalityattributes for each employment position stored in database 24 areevaluated to form an aggregate profile.

Additionally, and optionally, each record could contain a plurality ofinterest attribute fields (not shown) each containing a range ofnumerical values assigned to an identified interest attribute of adesired employee for that job. Interest attributes may for exampleidentify an employee's interest in working with people; working withdata; or working with things. Each interest attribute field alsocontains a range of numerical values assigned to an identified interestattribute of a desired employee for that job.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, database 24 further includes a candidateportion 32, including a relational database table made up of entries foreach available candidate. Each record contains fields 34 identifying thecandidate preferably by name; address; date of birth; serial number; andthe like, as illustrated as fields 34 a, 34 b, 34 c, 34 d, respectively.As well, each record contains a plurality of personality attributefields 36 for that candidate. The serial number may be generated byapplication software 22. As will become apparent, each personality field36 a-36 m is preferably populated with a single numerical measure of theassociated candidate's trait.

The personality attribute fields 36 correspond to those stored in fields30, for employment positions. That is, each field 36 stores a valuerepresenting the assessment of a particular personality trait of acandidate; a corresponding field 30 stores an appropriate range ofvalues representing the assessment of that trait for suited candidatesfor a particular employment position.

In operation, employers provide personality profile informationregarding employment positions as desired, as illustrated in steps 400of FIG. 4. Specifically, data profiling each employment position isinitially assembled by employers in step S402. Most preferably, apotential employer collects job profile data, representative ofpersonality profiles for ideal candidates for available employmentpositions. The data may be collected by a human resource department ofan organization. The data is ideally collected with the assistance of arepresentative familiar with job matching methods exemplary of thepresent invention. Most preferably the job profile characteristics for apotentially available job are determined by assessing those personalitytraits of top performers already employed or previously employed in theavailable position. The job profile characteristics are quantified foreach personality trait identified as relevant for the particularposition. Preferably, multiple employees (or former employees) areprofiled so that a numerical range of acceptable values can bedetermined for each personality trait.

Additionally, or optionally, a job profile may be formed manually, byassessing desirable ranges of personality traits heuristically with theassistance of a representative familiar with job matching methodsexemplary of the present invention. This may be particularly useful foremployment positions that have not previously been filled, or to confirmthat perceived personality traits of employees correspond to those oftop performers. Of course, where perceived traits differ from those ofactual top performers, the assessed traits of proven top performersshould be used.

A specific system that may be used to assess the personality profiles ofemployees, is for example, available from ICES Assessment Systems Inc.,of 2^(nd) Street, Holetown, St. James, Barbados, West Indies inassociation with the trademark ICES PLUS ASSESSMENT and is detailed moreparticularly in the PREVUE ASSESSMENT Technical Manual, 3^(rd) Edition,ICES Assessment Systems Inc., June 1998, the contents of which arehereby incorporated by reference. As detailed therein, psychologistshave identified five major factors indicative of personality, namelyExtraversion; Agreeableness/Independence; Conscientiousness; Anxiety;and Openness to Experience. A questionnaire forming part of the systemis heralded as statistically accurate, consisting ofone-hundred-and-fifty-two questions. Answers to these questions are usedto produce a mapping of personality traits in thirteen categories,evaluated numerically with values in the range of 1-10. The categoriescorrespond to those traits represented by fields 30 a-30 m or 36 a-36 m.While the ICES system provides a convenient personality profileassessment for individuals, it will be understood that many otherprofile assessments may be used. For example, a behavioral psychologistcould easily design a profile assessment questionnaire that could beused to determine measures of many recognized personality traits. Asuitable profile assessment questionnaire should ensure that answers tothe questions provide statistically valid and reliable results. Server14, and the exemplary methods of practicing the present invention wouldbe suitably modified to use such a questionnaire and store tabulatedresults in database 24.

Regardless of which technique is used to gather the relevantinformation, the employer may then present such information to server 14by way of computing device 16 and network 12 in step S404. For example,once the data is collected, it may be passed to server 14 by way of anHTML form presented at device 16. Alternatively, the data may besubmitted by way of electronic mail, or using any other known protocol,such as for example the file transfer protocol, or the like.Alternatively, the collected data may be transferred to an operator oradministrator proximate server 14 using another known method. The datacould, for example, be delivered in person, by telephone, regular mail,or in many other ways. The operator or administrator may then enter thedata at server 14. Once received the data is stored within portion 26 ofdatabase 24.

Additionally, a prospective employer should enter into a bindingagreement with operators of server 14. The agreement should oblige theprospective employer to agree to grant interviews or personal contact tosuitable candidates, as described below. The agreement may furtheroblige an employer to notify server 14 or its operators as soon as a jobis no longer available; and to pay the operators for services provided.Again, if the law permits, a suitable contract may be entered into usingHTML forms filled-in and executed at device 16 in step S406.

For example, suppose a prospective employer X wishes to hire a new salesclerk. Personality evaluations of existing sales clerks for employer X(performed in step S402) using the ICES PLUS ASSESSMENT SYSTEM revealthat the ideal sales clerk has the following range of personalitytraits, as quantified:

a. independence=7-9;

b. competitiveness=6-8;

c. assertiveness=7-9;

d. conscientiousness=5-8;

e. convention=7-9;

f. organization=5-7

g. extroversion=6-8;

h. group orientation=2-4;

i. outgoing=5-7

j. stability=2-4

k. poise=2-5;

l. relaxation=2-5 and

m. social desirability=7-9.

As noted, collectively the assessment of these traits may be referred toas an aggregate job profile for a sales clerk with employer X.

As will be appreciated, the aggregate profile may be assessed usingquestionnaires presented to current employees, and completed inconjunction with periodic employee performance evaluations for existingemployees. Alternatively, the aggregate profile may be created as a jobbecomes available. As another option, the job profile could be createdby human resource specialist, psychologists or the like. Once available,this data is provided to server 14, in step S404 and stored withinportion 26 of database 24. Specifically, a record representative of asales clerk for company X is created and job-particular fields 28 arefilled. Trait fields 30 a-30 m are completed accordingly, reflecting theassembled data, as illustrated in FIG. 2. Employer X may also enter intoa service agreement as detailed with reference to step S406.

Other records of database table 26, representative of other availableemployment positions may be completed by employer X, or other employers.Most preferably all available employment positions are characterized byaggregate job profiles including evaluations of the same defined traits.Thus, all database records preferably include identical definedpersonality attribute fields.

As such, database 24 serves as a repository for available employmentpositions from multiple employers. As a particular job position isfilled, the corresponding employer could notify server 14, so that theparticular job may be deleted from the database 24. Alternatively, forreasons that will become apparent, filled positions may also bemaintained within database 24.

Once at least some entries of database 24 have been populated with jobrelated data, an employment candidate proximate network computing device18, preferably performs steps 500 illustrated in FIG. 5. Specifically,the candidate uses computing device 18 including its network interfacesoftware and browser, to establish a network connection with server 14over network 12, in step S502. In response, server 14 using applicationsoftware 22 stored within its memory presents the candidate proximatecomputing device 18 with a questionnaire allowing the candidate topresent personal information such as the candidate's name, address, dateof birth, and the like, in step S504. As well, preferably computingdevice 18 prompts the candidate to present service payment information,such as credit card billing information; an electronic cash identifier;or the like in step S506, for the job matching services provided byserver 14. The prompts and questionnaire are preferably presented to thecandidate by way of an HTML form, generated by browser software atcomputing device 18. Next, server 14 verifies the payment information,and preferably charges the candidate's payment account a fee for usingthe described job matching service, also in step S506.

The personal information is then preferably stored at server 14 infields 34 a-34 d of database 24. Thereafter, server 14 causes computingdevice 18 to present a personality assessment questionnaire to thecandidate, by for example, causing a series of standardized questions tobe presented to the candidate, in steps S508-S510. Again, the questionsare preferably presented to the candidate by way of an HTML formgenerated by browser software at computing device 18. Alternatively, thequestionnaire could be presented by way of a Java applet, or JavaScriptprogram provided by server 14 to device 18. As will be appreciated, sucha form allows questions to be answered. Each response may be provided bycomputing device 18 to server 14, by data network 12 as each response isprovided, also in step S508. Alternatively, all responses may beprovided at the conclusion of the questionnaire.

Preferably, the candidate assessment questionnaire is identical to theassessment presented by employers to suitable employees as detailed withreference to step S402 (FIG. 4). Again, the known ICES PLUS ASSESSMENTsystem may be used to present questionnaires to candidates.Alternatively, another personality assessment system may be used.Preferably, the series of standardized questions includes internalconsistency measures to ensure that a candidate's responses areconsistent and therefore likely honest. Most preferably, questions askedof candidates and employees are compatible, so that a correlationbetween candidate scores and employer job profiles may be easilydetermined. Additionally, and optionally, the questionnaire may includequestions suitable to numerically assess the candidate's interests.

FIG. 6, in turn illustrates steps 600 performed at server 14. Asillustrated, once the above described questionnaire has been completedby a candidate, results are received in step S602, and applicationsoftware 22 at server 14 tabulates values to populate fields 36 for thatcandidate in step S604. Alternatively, the Java applet or JavaScriptapplication provided to computing device 18 may tabulate values topopulate fields 36 for the candidate.

At the conclusion of tabulating suitable personality measures for acandidate, server 14 compares personality measures for the candidate todesired personality traits for jobs stored within portion 30 of database24. This may be done in any number of ways. For example, server 14 maycalculate the difference between the candidate's evaluated personalitytraits and the stored personality traits for all available jobs withinthe database 24, in steps S606-S612 as illustrated in FIG. 6. A knownmetric may be used to calculate this difference in step S606, for eachpersonality trait. For example, a value of zero (0) may be awarded foreach candidate trait value stored in fields 36 a-36 m which falls withinthe range of the corresponding employment position trait stored infields 30 a-30 m. For each trait for which the candidate trait valuedoes not fall within the range, a value equal to the distance betweenthe candidate trait value and the midpoint of the employment positionrange may be awarded

-   -   (ie. Difference=abs(candidate score−[(lower bound+upper        bound)/2]).

Once metrics for all traits within the aggregate profile for eachavailable job are tabulated, these may be summed. As should be apparent,the closer to zero the summed score, the better the personality matchbetween a candidate and an employment position. For convenience, thetabulated score may be converted into a more meaningful indicator of jobsuitability, by, for example subtracting the tabulated score from 95.Thus, a candidate with a perfect match is said to be a 95% match for theavailable job. The summed score for each employment position may bestored temporarily within memory 22 or within database 24.

In the event interest attribute fields are stored within database 24,these too may be compared to assessed interest attributes for eachcandidate in a similar manner.

Optionally, table 26 may further include one or more fields (notillustrated) for each available employment position identifying“critical personality traits” for suitable job candidates. These“critical personality traits” would identify which of traits stored infields 30 a-30 m necessitate a match for a given candidate to beconsidered suitable for a given job. That is, for candidates that do nothave a corresponding personality trait that fall within the range for acritical category, the job will simply not be provided to the candidate.For example, a job may require an extremely diplomatic individual. Assuch, diplomacy may be identified as a critical trait, requiring amatch. Assuming a candidate did not exhibit a measure of diplomacy inthe range for the particular employment position, the candidate wouldnot be assessed as suitable for the job, notwithstanding that measuresfor all other traits are within the identified range for the job.

Next, in step S614, server 14 may provide to the candidate by way ofcomputing device 18 and network 12 a list of jobs for which thecandidate appears suitable, based on the comparisons performed in stepsS606-S612. The list may be sorted in order of match. As well, onlymatches in a certain proximity to the ideal job profile may be providedto the candidate. For example, server 14 may provide a list includingthose only those jobs for which a score of 80% or higher was tabulated.The provided list preferably includes complete job applicationinformation, including the job title; job description; name of employer;and contact information. The contact information may also include anetwork identifier in the form of a uniform resource locator (“URL”)identifying the home page of a potential employer. The list may bee-mailed to the candidate, provided as an HTML document, or may bedownloaded by a candidate at this device 18. The URL identifying thepotential employers may be used to contact the employers using device18. The candidate may receive this list in step S512 (FIG. 5). As shouldbe appreciated, payment information need not be collected in step S506,but could instead be collected and verified at any time prior to stepS512.

Next, the candidate may individually select those particular jobs towhich the candidate wishes to apply. The candidate may then apply tothose employers directly, by dispatching a resume, identifying thatservices provided by server 14 have been used, and potentially under acover letter/sheet provided by server 14, or operators of server 14certifying a match using database 24. Alternatively or additionally, thecandidate may use computing device 18 and the URL provided in step S512to contact the employer in step S514. As well, in addition to providingthe candidate with a list of jobs, in steps S512 and S614, applicationsoftware 22 at server 14 may also provide computing device 16 with aprintable certificate (in HTML, POSTSCRIPT, PORTABLE DOCUMENT FORMAT, orthe like). The certificate may specifically identify the operators ofserver 14; the candidate; the employer and job; and a unique identifier,that may be used by an employer to gauge the authenticity of thedocument. The certificate acts as an authenticator, and thusauthenticates that described job matching services have been used. Byadvising a potential employer that job matching service exemplary ofthis invention were used, the candidate may assure potential employersthat their personality is suited for the available job. As will beappreciated, the URL provided to the candidate in step S512 and S614need not be generally known and may thus similarly function as anauthenticator. The employers, in turn, may rely on the results ofcalculations of server 14 and should provide those candidates withpersonal contact, preferably in the form of interviews. Employers, ofcourse, may further screen candidates by reviewing resumes to ensurethat the candidates have minimum skills. The cover letter provided byserver 14 (or operators of server 14) also preferably includes anindication of the degree of match of the candidate. For example, thecover letter may indicate the degree of match as “Excellent”; “VeryHigh”; “Above Average” or include a numerical measure such as “78%Match”; “80% Match”; “93% Match” or the like, calculated as above.

In the event that the candidate has matched employment positions thatare no longer vacant, the employers may still wish to offer thecandidate personal contact in view of the high degree of match betweenthe candidate's personality and the personality profile of an employmentposition that may one day become vacant. Alternatively, the employer maywish to keep the candidate's name on file.

Additionally, the cover sheet may further identify a job type, for whichthe candidate has been found to be a suitable match. For example, if acandidate has been found to be suitable match for one or more salesclerk positions, the cover sheet may indicate that the candidate haspersonality traits suitable for such a position. This being the case,the candidate could approach other employers, not necessarily using theservices of server 14, and offering such employment positions with thecover sheet. Such employers could give credit to the job match, as theyfeel appropriate or could contact the operators of server 14 for moreinformation.

Preferably, the potential employers are not provided with particularsabout suitable candidates, and therefore are unable to initiate contactwith the candidates. Each candidate thus preferably has full control tocontact the employers of choice, and obtain preferential treatment usingthe results of the match provided by server 14.

Conveniently, because the candidates have been pre-screened inaccordance with methods exemplary of the present invention, employersare able to process their applications more expeditiously, withassurances that the personality profile of the candidate is suited forthe available job position. Even if candidates do not appear to have theexact skills required by the employer, the Employer has some assurancethat the candidate, with proper training could fill the job. As shouldbe appreciated, the methods detailed herein, are particularly wellsuited to select candidates for entry level positions. Candidates, onthe other hand are provided with preferential treatment as they havebeen identified a potentially successful candidates.

As will be appreciated, the above described embodiments are susceptibleto numerous modifications. Most significantly, the described methodscould be performed without the use of any computing equipment. Job andcandidate assessments could be conducted manually, and results could betabulated manually. Results could be hand or mail delivered. Similarly,only portions of the described methods could be performed manually.

As well, while the organization of software blocks, data and datastructures have been illustrated specifically and as clearly delineated,a person skilled in the art will appreciate that numerous otherarrangements of software blocks and data are possible. For example,databases may be arranged differently, with more or fewer fields, or anobject oriented database could be used. Additionally, software embodyingthe described methods may distributed by way of computer readable mediumor by way of carrier wave propagated on network 12.

The above described embodiments, are intended to be illustrative onlyand in no way limiting. The described embodiments of carrying out theinvention, are susceptible to many modifications of form, size,arrangement of parts, and details of operation. The invention, rather,is intended to encompass all such modification within its scope, asdefined by the claims.

1. A computer implemented method of matching an employment candidate tospecific employment positions from multiple employers, comprising: a.for each of a plurality of available employment positions, receivingemployment position data measuring a plurality of defined personalitytraits for suitable candidates for that employment position; b. storingsaid received employment position data; c. receiving individualcandidate data, representative of a personality profile for saidemployment candidate; d. using a computer for comparing said individualcandidate data with said employment position data to produce a list ofpotential employment positions for said candidate, from said employmentpositions, said list identifying those of said employment positions forwhich defined personality traits, as reflected by said employmentposition data, match said individual candidate data; and e. providingsaid list to said candidate; wherein said comparing of d) includes i)determining which numerical values for said candidate fall within acorresponding range for each employment position, said numerical valuesindicative of traits for said candidate, ii) calculating a metriccomparing each trait of said candidate, with a corresponding trait foreach of said employment positions, and iii) combining all of saidmetrics to arrive at a score indicative of said candidate's suitabilityfor an employment position.
 2. The method of claim 1 further comprising,providing said candidate with a candidate questionnaire in order todetermine said individual candidate data and thereby assess saidpersonality profile.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprisingproviding an employee questionnaire to successful employees, fillingeach of said specific employment positions, to determine said employmentposition data thereby assessing said plurality of defined personalitytraits for said each of said plurality of employment positions.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, wherein said candidate questionnaire and saidemployee questionnaire are identical.
 5. The method of claim 2, whereinsaid questionnaire comprises a psychometric test to assess saidpersonality profile.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein said receivedemployment position data comprises a plurality of numerical ranges, eachrange indicative of a range of values of a single personality trait of asuitable candidate for one of said employment positions.
 7. The methodof claim 6, wherein said received candidate data comprises a pluralityof numerical values, each numerical value indicative of a singlepersonality trait for said candidate.
 8. The method of claim 7, whereineach of said plurality of ranges for each employment position,corresponds to one of said plurality of numerical values for saidcandidate.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein each metric is calculatedby calculating a difference between a value for said trait of saidcandidate, and an average of a corresponding range for an employmentposition.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing saidcandidate with an authenticator, authenticating that said candidate hasobtained said list.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein saidauthenticator comprises a document.
 12. The method of claim 10, whereinsaid list includes identifiers of each of said employers.
 13. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: f. receiving employment interest datameasuring a plurality of defined interests for suitable candidates foreach employment position from said employers; g. storing said receivedemployment interest data; h. receiving individual candidate interestdata, representative of interests for an individual candidate; andwherein d. further comprises comparing said individual candidateinterest data with said employment interest data to produce said list.14. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of said definedplurality of defined personality traits are chosen from the list ofindependence; competitiveness; assertiveness; conscientiousness;convention; organization; extroversion; group orientation; outgoing;stability; poise; relaxation; and social desirability.
 15. A computerreadable medium, storing computer software that when executed on acomputing device, adapts said computing device to: i. for each of aplurality of available employment positions, receive employment positiondata measuring a plurality of defined personality traits for suitablecandidates for each of a plurality of employment positions from aplurality of employers; ii. store said received employment position dataat said computing device; iii. receive individual candidate data,representative of a personality profile for said candidate; iv. comparesaid individual candidate data with said employment position data toproduce a list of potential employment positions for said individualcandidate from said employment positions, said list identifying those ofsaid employment positions for which defined personality traits, asreflected by said employment position data, match said individualcandidate data; and v. provide said list to said individual candidate;wherein the compare of iv) includes a) determining which numericalvalues for said candidate fall within a corresponding range for eachemployment position, said numerical values indicative of traits for saidcandidate, b) calculating a metric comparing each trait of saidcandidate, with a corresponding trait for each of said employmentpositions, and c) combining all of said metrics to arrive at a scoreindicative of said candidate's suitability for an employment position.16. A computing device for interconnection with a computer network, saidcomputing device comprising: a. a processor; b. computer memory incommunication with said processor; said computer memory storingprocessor readable instructions adapting said computing device to: i.for each of a plurality of available employment positions, receiveemployment position data measuring a plurality of defined personalitytraits for suitable candidates for each of a plurality of employmentpositions from a plurality of employers; ii. store said receivedemployment position data at said computing device; iii. receiveindividual candidate data, representative of a personality profile forsaid candidate; iv. compare said individual candidate data with saidemployment position data to produce a list of potential employmentpositions for said individual candidate from said employment positions,said list identifying those of said employment positions for whichdefined personality traits, as reflected by said employment positiondata, match said individual candidate data; and v. provide said list tosaid individual candidate; wherein the compare of iv) includes iva)determining which numerical values for said candidate fall within acorresponding range for each employment position, said numerical valuesindicative of traits for said candidate, ivb) calculating a metriccomparing each trait of said candidate, with a corresponding trait foreach of said employment positions, and ivc) combining all of saidmetrics to arrive at a score indicative of said candidate's suitabilityfor an employment position.
 17. The computing device of claim 16,further comprising: c. a network interface, in communication with saidprocessor and for interconnection with a computer network to receivesaid employment position data and said individual candidate data fromsaid computer network.
 18. A computer implemented method of matchingemployment seekers to available employment openings of a plurality ofemployers using a computing device, comprising: for each of saidemployment openings storing aggregate personality profiles, reflectiveof desired personality traits for that employment opening; for each ofsaid employment openings storing identifying information for thatemployment opening; administering a questionnaire to an employmentseeker; assessing a personality profile of said employment seeker basedon said questionnaire said personality profile including numericalvalues indicative of personality traits for said employment seeker;using a computer for comparing said personality profile of saidemployment seeker to said stored aggregate personality profiles, todetermine ones of said employment openings suiting said personalityprofile of said employment seeker, wherein said comparing of includes i)determining which numerical values for said employment seeker fallwithin a corresponding range for each of said employment openings; ii)calculating a metric comparing each trait of said employment seeker,with a corresponding trait for each of said employment openings, andiii) combining all of said metrics to arrive at a score indicative ofsaid employment seeker's suitability for an employment position;identifying to said employment seeker, a list of said identifyinginformation of said employment openings suiting said personality profileof said employment seeker based on said comparing.
 19. The method ofclaim 18, wherein said questionnaire comprises a psychometric test toassess said personality profile.
 20. The method of claim 18, whereinsaid aggregate personality profiles for each of said employment openingsis assessed using said questionnaire.
 21. A computer readable medium,storing computer software that when executed on a computing device,adapts said computing device to perform the method of claim
 18. 22. Acomputer implemented method of filtering access to a database ofavailable employment opportunities, accessible by way of a data network,said method comprising: for each of said employment opportunities,storing an aggregate personality profile, reflective of desiredpersonality traits for that employment opportunity, and associatedinformation about that employment opportunity; providing a questionnaireto an employment seeker; receiving responses to said questionnaire;assessing a personality profile of said employment seeker based on saidresponses, said personality profile including numerical valuesindicative of Personality traits for said employment seeker; using acomputer for comparing said personality profile of said employmentseeker to said stored aggregate personality profiles, to determine onesof said employment opportunities stored in said database suiting saidpersonality of said employment seeker, wherein said comparing ofincludes i) determining which numerical values for said employmentseeker fall within a corresponding range for each of said employmentopenings; ii) calculating a metric comparing each trait of saidemployment seeker, with a corresponding trait for each of saidemployment openings, and iii) combining all of said metrics to arrive ata score indicative of said employment seeker's suitability for anemployment position; identifying to said employment seeker a list ofsaid employment opportunities suiting said personality profile of saidemployment seeker, and said associated information of said employmentopportunities suiting said personality profile of said employmentseeker, based on said comparing.
 23. A computer implemented method ofoperating an on-line database service matching employment opportunitiesof various employers to employment seekers, said method comprising: foreach of said employment opportunities, receiving from one of saidvarious employers, an aggregate personality profile, reflective ofdesired personality traits for that employment opportunity, andassociated information about that employment opportunity; storing saidaggregate personality profile; providing a questionnaire to anemployment seeker; receiving responses to said questionnaire; assessinga personality profile of said employment seeker based on said responses,said personality profile including numerical values indicative ofpersonality traits for said employment seeker; using a computer forcomparing said personality profile of said employment seeker to saidstored aggregate personality profiles, to determine ones of saidemployment openings suiting said personality profile of said employmentseeker, wherein said comparing of includes i) determining whichnumerical values for said employment seeker fall within a correspondingrange for each of said employment openings; ii) calculating a metriccomparing each trait of said employment seeker, with a correspondingtrait for each of said employment openings, and iii) combining all ofsaid metrics to arrive at a score indicative of said employment seeker'ssuitability for an employment position; identifying to said employmentseeker, a list of said employment opportunities suiting said personalityprofile of said employment seeker, and said associated information ofsaid employment opportunities suiting said personality profile of saidemployment seeker, based on said comparing.